Does Quality Decline When Non-Doctors Take Up HIV Patient Care?

the MPR take:

Could task-shifting HIV patient care from doctors to non-doctors help increase patients’ access to antiretroviral therapy and address the healthcare worker shortage? A review in The Cochrane Library evaluated the quality of initiative and maintenance of HIV/AIDS care in models that task shift care to non-doctors in relevant studies from January 1, 1996 to March 28, 2014. Ten studies met criteria, with four as randomized controlled studies and six as cohort studies. Study results showed that shifting the responsibility of HIV patient care from physicians to adequately trained and supported nurses or community health workers did not lower the quality of care and may actually decrease patients lost to follow-up, as was seen in research on nurse-initiated care.

Does Quality Decline When Non-Doctors Take Up HIV Patient Care?

This is particularly of concern where the burden of disease is greatest and the access to trained doctors is limited.This review aims to better inform HIV care programmes that are currently underway, and those planned, by assessing if task-shifting care from doctors to non-doctors provides both ...